Saddle and method of making same



June 8, 1937. R. w. FAULHABER SADDLE AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Oct. 51, 1935 OOOOOO'O INVENTOR. Po/ano WEI/[0017677 ATTORNEY.

Patented June 8, 1937 UNITED STATES SADDLE AND METHOD OF MAKING 7 Roland W. Faulhaber,

Elyria, Ohio, assignor to 'The Troxel Mfg. Company, Elyria, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application October 31,. 1935, Serial No. 47,649

6 Claims.

This invention relates to cycle saddles and particularly to the construction of the seats thereof.

Cycle saddles have been proposed comprising a press-formed sheet metal frame having an outer cover of leather, fabric or the like; and to cover the inner or under side of the frame to provide a finish therefor, and at the same time to secure the outer cover on the frame, an inner cover of leather or other fabric has been used, the outer and inner covers being secured to the frame and to each other at the edge of the frame by applyinga binding strip of leather or fabric over the corresponding edges and sewing through the strip and through the covers.

It is an object of the present invention to provicle a saddle of the type comprising a covered frame having improved means for securing the cover upon the frame.

Another object is to provide generally an improved cycle saddle construction.

Another object is to provide'an improved saddle frame construction.

Another object is to provide means for securing an outer cover on a saddle frame whereby the metal of the inner or under side of the frame may be exposed and may be given a metal finish.

Another object is to provide animproved method of applying a cover to a cycle saddle seat frame.

Other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which my invention appertains.

My invention is fully disclosed in the following description taken in connection with the accom- 5' panying drawing, in which:

Fig. l is a side elevational view of a cycle saddle embodying my invention:

Fig. 2 is a view of the saddle of Fig. 1 taken from the under side thereof;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken from the plane 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary View similar to a part of Fig. 3, drawn to a larger scale;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, illustrating a modification;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view similar to a part of Fig. 3, illustrating-a modification.

Referring now to the drawing, I have illustrated at l the frame of a'saddle, which in the preferred practice of my invention and in the embodiment illustrated, is press-formed from a piece of sheet metal, and comprises a seat portion 2 having a peripheral skirt portion 3 depending therefrom generally in an outwardly inclined direction, the general contour when 'viewed from above, or frombelow as in Fig. 2,

being the usual pear form.

The frame 2 may have secured thereto any suitable or well known means for mounting the saddle upon a cycle or other vehicle, one simple means being illustrated in the drawing and comprising three depending threaded studs 4-4 secured to the seat portion of the frame to which may be secured a resilient supporting mechanism having a post or other means for securing it to the frame of the vehicle. These parts being well known, need not be further described herein.

The depending skirt portion 3 terminates in a peripheral edge 5, and adjacent to the edge 5 and preferably extending entirely around the periphery is a seriesof perforations (5-5 preferably formed by means of .a suitable punch and die apparatus. The exact size and shape of the perforations 6 constitute no essential part of the present invention. Preferably, in a saddle of the usual dimensions, they are madeapproximately long and T 5 wide and sufficiently close together so that the bridging elements or ties '!'l connecting the peripheral edge portion 8 below the perforations with the skirt portion 3 thereabove will be narrow, a suitable width' thereof being of the order of 2" or between 3312 'and I 6 are of rectangular form but may be otherwise formed aswill appear hereinafter.

On the outside of the seat portion 2 and skirt portion 3 is a cover 9 of fabric, leather, artificial leather or other suitable flexible material. The cover 9 preferably extends sufficiently downwardly over the skirt portion 3 of the frame so that its peripheral edge II! will be substantially coincident with the edge 5 of the frame, the cover thus overlapping the perforations 6--6 on the outside of the frame.

The cover 9 is secured upon the frame in the following manner: A strip of finish material such as soft leather or the like and preferably of a contrasting color to that of the cover 9 is folded along longitudinal lines into channel form vas plainly shown at H, Fig. 4. The material is preferably folded so as to provide channel side portions |2 --l2 of double thickness. The chann-el of finishing material is then placed over the peripheral edge 5 of the frame and over the.

cover 9 thereon. 'By means of a sewingyma chine, the finishing strip H, is sewed upon the skirt portion .3 and cover 9 by stitches l3, the thread of which passes through the finishing strip and the cover 9 and through the perfora- Preferably also the perforations tions 6 of the frame, thus securely sewing the cover to the frame.

The sewing operation just described is carried on progressively around the periphery of the saddle, the stitching on the outside of the finishing strip ll appearing as at I4, and on the inside appearing as at l5. At the ends of the perforations 6--6, the sewing needle (not shown) passes from one perforation to the next over the metal bridging portions I between perforations, so that the bridging portions 7 are interlocked with the stitches. This is plainly shown in Fig. 2 where a bridging portion la is interlocked with a stitch I5a.

In Fig. 3 at Iii-l6 is illustrated the needle holes which appear on the inner side of the cover 9 viewed through the perforations 6 when the finishing strip l I has been broken away. It will be observed that two successive needle holes lBa on opposite sides of a bridging member I have the same spacing as theother pairs of needle holes, from which it will be apparent that the length of the perforations 6--6 is correlated with the lengths of the stitches so that as the sewing process proceeds, a bridging element 1 will always lie between the ends of a stitch, or, in other words, the needle will always pass through the material at one side of the bridging element 1 on one stroke and on the next stroke will pass through on the other side thereof.

Any'suitable means or mechanism may be provided to thus sew the material through the perforations 6 and to constantly and at an equal rate step ahead the material to effect the sewing operation, such devices not forming any essential part of the present invention.

If the bridging members 1-1 are thin enough, the sewing needle may be deflected therefrom if it should accidentally impinge thereon and thus correct for any discrepancy in the steping-ahead process.

In themodification shown in Fig. 5, besides the outer cover 9, an inner cover I! is provided and the two covers 9 and I! are sewed onto the metal frame 2 in the same way as that described above for a single outer cover. The form of Fig. 3, however, is preferred and when employed the inner surface of the sheet" metal frame I may be finished with enamel, paint or other coating to prevent rusting of the metal and to give it a pleasing appearance.

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 6, instead of employing elongated perforations as in the form of Fig. 3, circular perforations l8-| 8 are provided, and in this case the sewing needle on successive stitches will pass through successive perforations l8, each stitch thereby interlocking with a bridging portion H! of the metal as will be understood from the more complete description of the other form.

From a consideration of the above described embodiment of my invention, it will be apparent that my invention may be practiced apart from the exact details illustrated and described and changes and modifications may be made within the spirit of my invention without sacrificing its advantages and within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A cycle saddle comprising a frame having a sheet metal depending skirt portion at the periphery thereof provided with a series of perforations, and a cover of flexible sheet material on the frame secured thereto by stitching passing through the cover and through the perforations, the perforations being elongated in the peripheral direction and of sufiicient length to accommodate a plurality of stitches and large enough to permit the material of the cover to be drawn thereinto by the stitching.

2. A cycle saddle comprising a press-formed concave sheet metal frame having a depending peripheral skirt portion, the said skirt portion providing a series of perforations, and a cover of flexible sheet material on the outside of the frame secured thereto by stitching passing through the cover and through the frame perforations, and

y the perforations being elongated in the peripheral direction and large enough in area to permit the material of the cover to be drawn thereinto by the stitching and the under side of the frame having a metal finish.

3. In a cycle or like saddle, a frame having a sheet metal peripheral edge provided witha series of perforations generally parallel to the edge, a cover of flexible sheet material superposed on the frame having an edge adjacent the frame peripheral edge, a finish strip of flexible material embracing the edges of the frame and cover and stitching passing through the finish strip and the cover and through the said perforations to secure the cover and strip to the frame, and the perforations being large enough to cause the sheet material of the cover on one side of the frame and the finished strip on the other side of the frame to be drawn into the perforations by the stitching.

4. A cycle saddle comprising a frame having a 1 sheet metal element provided with a series of perforations and a cover of flexible sheet metal on the frame element secured thereto by stitching passing through the perforations and through the cover, and the perforations being sufficiently I larger than the thread of the stitching to cause the material of the cover to be sufficiently drawn into the frame element by the stitching to interlock the frame element with the cover.

5. A cycle saddle comprising a frame having an element thereof provided with a series of perforations, a cover of flexible sheet material on one side of the frame element and a finish strip on the other side thereof, the cover and strip both being secured to the frame element by stitching passing through the cover and strip and through the perforations and the perforations being sufficiently larger than the thread of the stitching to cause the material of the cover and strip to be sufficiently drawn into the perforations from opposite sides thereof by the stitching to interlock them with the cover elements.

6. A cycle saddle comprising a frame having a sheet metal frame element provided with a series of perforations adjacent an edge of the element, a cover of flexible sheet material on the frame element, a finish strip embracing the said edge and the cover adjacent the edge and the cover and finish strip being secured to the frame element by stitching passing through the perforations and through the cover and embracing strip and the perforations being sufficiently larger than the thread of the stitching to cause the material of the cover and the material of the strip to be sufficiently drawn into the perforations from opposite sides thereof by the stitching to interlock the cover and strips with the frame element.

ROLAND W. FAULHABER. 

